Hi! I'm Mary, an alcoholic.

I've heard a lot of stories in the rooms of AA, and think we can all agree that amazing things seem to happen when people get sober. In my case it was a real miracle. At long last, I began to grow up! I spent too many years being angry, controlling and unreasonable. I was the personification of the egomaniac with an inferiority complex. I was right just about all the time, and when I was wrong I was going to cram my opinion down your throat. I was unable to just let you have your own opinion. You had to accept mine or I lost control, becoming loud (in public) or crying or throwing things (in private). Needless to say, this frequently made for tense situations, especially since I was often surrounded by equally stubborn people. I lost my mom a few months ago to cancer but thanks to AA and the wisdom of the words in the Big Book, I was able to have over two years with a woman I came to like as well as love. She and I had never been bosom buddies. I was too much like her and we fought a lot. The people and the program gave me the strength to be with her as she passed from this life. I stayed with my mom at the end, sharing the burden and the blessings with my siblings (another gift of the program) and was overwhelmingly grateful to be able to be there. I was and am at peace with her passing, despite missing her terribly and mourning the loss of someone who became one of my best friends. I'll miss my mom for a long time to come, but the grief is tempered by a sense of gratitude. I'm grateful for her friendship and her love, I'm grateful to my Higher Power and to AA for letting me recognize the gift of being her daughter and even more so to be of service to her when she really needed me.
- Mary